APACC Conducts Re-Accreditation of TESDA Women's Center

In fulfillment of the APACC objectives of monitoring compliance of APACC-accredited institution against APACC quality benchmarks, the Asia-Pacific Accreditation and Certification Commission (APACC) conducted a two-day on-site visit of the TESDA Women's Center (TWC) on February 8 to 9, 2012. This activity is a validation and re-assessment of TWC's status as a Silver-accredited institution awarded by APACC in 2008. This also marks the first re-accreditation done by APACC in its years of accrediting institutions in the Philippines.

The APACC audit team was led by Engr. Md. Jahangir Alam, CPSC Faculty Specialist, Dr. Romulita Alto, APPACC Accreditor, and Mr. Rae Emmanuel Echaveria, CPSC Research Assistant and APACC Staff.

The 2-day on-site visit re-validated TWC's self-study report through observations, document inspections, tour of the facilities and other related activities, based on APACC's seven criteria for TVET institutions. At the end of the visit, the accreditation committee came up with a summary of commendations, affirmations and certifications.

The accreditation activity commenced with an opening ceremony graced by officials of TESDA Central Office led by Atty. Ted Pascua, TESDA Deputy Director for Field Operations, Executive Director of the Office of TESDA Technology Institutions (OTTI), Dir. Ted Sanico, and the TWC Center’s faculty and staff led by the Center's Chief, Ms. Ma. Clara Ignacio.

TWC is a specialized vocational training center and institute particularly catering to women's capacity building. It envisions to make women skilled for a living and educated for life in every Filipino household through fulfilling its mission of developing the competence and character of women in the marginalized sectors of the Philippine society and equip them with employable skills and prepare them for their role in the family and community. Currently, it offers 11 programs and trains an average of 16-25 trainees per qualification.

CPSC-TESDA's Program Enhance Strategic Planning Competencies of Philippine TVET Administrators

In continuous effort to extend assistance to CPSC member countries in developing their TVET institutions and enhance their visibility to the local stakeholders, CPSC, in cooperation with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and the National TVET Teachers' Training Academy (NTTA) organized the In-Country Program on Strategic Planning for TVET Institutions at the Melchora Aquino Hall, TESDA Women's Center (TWC), Taguig City, Philippines from February 27, 2012 to March 2, 2012.

The program focused on the development of strategic planning for TVET institutions, which had been proven to be an effective tool for "organizing the present on the basis of the projection of the desired future". The program was designed to: enhance participants' awareness on strategic planning concepts and principles; build appreciation on the importance of strategic planning on setting directions of TVET institutions; and emphasized the need to produce a "multiplier effect" in which they will be imparting the lessons that they have learned to their staff and instructors.

CPSC Director General and Program Supervisor Dr. Mohammad Naim Yaakub, together with CPSC Faculty Specialist Engr. Md. Jahangir Alam, and Dr. Renato M. Sorolla, former CPSC Faculty Specialist and currently Professor at the Western Visayas College of Technology, Philippines, who also acted as Program Coordinator ensured smooth implementation to meet the objectives of the program. Dr. Renato Sorolla, and former CPSC Faculty Consultant and Professor at the Technological Institute of the Philippines, Dr. Romulita Alto shared their insights on strategic planning with the participants as Resource Speakers.

Officials from TESDA and NTTA led by Deputy Director General for Field Operations, Atty. Teodoro Pascua; Executive Director of the Office of the TESDA Technology Institutions (OTTA) Dir. Ted Sanico and NTTA Administrator Dir. Felicidad Zurbano graced the Opening Ceremonies of the program. In their welcome remarks, Atty. Pascua and Dir. Sanico expressed their sincere appreciation to the CPSC faculty and staff, citing that the program is a "timely and a well-founded" initiative to boost the internal capacity of the TVET institutions. Both officials also highlighted the importance of planning and its impact on the direction that TESDA wants to pursue in the coming years. Likewise, Engr. Alam also emphasized CPSC's important role in improving provision of TVET in the host country, the Philippines, being the focal organization for its improvement in the region. He also appreciated the significant cooperation that both agencies extend in making TVET a priority in the Philippines.

The four-day program included discussions about the strategic planning and management, initiating the strategic planning process for the TTIs, using different quality tools in strategic planning analysis and the development of a strategic planning framework. Tasks that were required to the participants include the development of the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) and PESTLE (Political, Educational, Socio-Economic, Technological, Legal and Ecological) analysis, aligning the institutional VMGO to TESDA's general plan, and the action plan and framework for an institutional strategic plan.

The 5-day program was well-received by the participants composed of 56 TVET school administrators from 17 regions of the country as reflected from their overall program evaluation rating of 95%.

A one-day National Seminar on Strategies for Quality Improvement through Accreditation was conducted during the program on March 2, 2012 at the same venue which was attended by 212 TVET practitioners in the country. (see related story)